Avery's 12th Birthday, Gabe's Mission Farewell, Home MTC Begins

It feels like I just wrote, but there have just been a lot of things going on! The next time I write, Gabe will most likely be gone on his mission and it will be a post about how we dropped him off and I will be so sad! :( I really need to make some fun plans for Wednesday, August 1!

The first thing I need to write about though is Avery's 12th birthday! We did an easy party again by just taking her and some friends to Gravity Factory. She invited Nora, Kendalin, Maddie, Briella, and Lola. The jumped from about 2:00-3:30, then came back to our house for ice cream cake, and Avery opened presents. She got slime, some art stuff, a couple little stuffed animals, some nail polish and manicure stuff. We had just barely bought her a new bike (a blue beach cruiser like mine), and then we also got her some other random things (a Stitch Funk-o-Pop, a bracelet-making kit with beads, some new headphones, a latch-hook art kit to make this dog picture thing out of yarn...) After all her friends went home, we went out to dinner at her choice of a place, which was the Mandarin. Then we came back home and I think Gabe and Caleb both hurried off with their friends.

All last week, Gabe was pretty much with his friends or Sophia every day from about 3:00pm - 1:00am. He was trying to squeeze in every last minute of normal teen life I think. On Saturday night I think he got home at like 2:00am. He knew on Sunday, everything was about to change! I did get to spend time with him typically in the mornings, just running errands and trying to get stuff ready for his farewell. One day, we drove by Rexburg Rapids and saw his crew of friends from the ground crew doing literally nothing, so we stopped and snapped a few pictures. We also floated Warm Slough with our family and Sophia on Friday afternoon.

On Sunday, Gabe gave his talk in church at 1:30. I was grateful our church was at 1:30 that day because I spent a lot of the morning getting the clubhouse ready for Gabe's farewell. We set up all six of the round tables and chairs that they had in the closet, plus we brought in some long tables for food. I hung the Spanish flag up on the fireplace and strung up a banner of mini Spanish flags across one end of the room. We had gone to Costco and Winco on Saturday and gotten a ton different kinds of deli meat (ham, turkey, etc.) and buns, croissants, watermelon, Caesar salad kids, cookie platters, etc. It was kind of a make-your-own sandwich type of buffet. Then all the sisters-in-law brought salads or desserts too. We had a TON of food. We didn't have too many buns left over, but we had plenty of extra meats and cheeses. I spent a good part of Saturday evening preparing meat and cheese platters with Zeus watching me intently for any pieces I might drop!

Anyway, Gabe gave his talk in church at 1:30 and it was really good. I told him to try to not talk so fast, but he still did. My mom was watching it on the internet broadcast (we got her the link from the Bishop) and she said it was a little fast, but then she added, "When he has to give talks in Spanish, that will slow him down." The church meeting was PACKED with people. Gabe about 20 friends there from the track team and school, including Sophia, her older sister and brother-in-law, and her little brother. I guess Sophia's parents were on an Alaskan cruise, so they couldn't be there. After Gabe's talk, my friend, Claire, sang a song accompanied by a teenage boy on a violin. It was really nice. Then Sister Flamm gave a talk, and I gave the closing prayer. It was a good church meeting!

After church, we hustled home and got a few more things out of our fridge and rushed over to the clubhouse to get set up. People were already showing up and sitting down at the tables, so I was a little stressed just hurrying to get everything ready. But Josh's sisters and my friends were all super helpful. By about 2:00, we all started eating and there was a huge line of people. I snapped a few pictures, but I don't think you can really tell how many people were there. We estimated between 150-175 probably. It was a huge group, but it was really fun to see how many people cared to see Gabe!

By about 4:45, the last people were leaving, so we started the cleanup. We had to kind of hurry because Gabe's appointment to get set apart as an elder with President Rawson was scheduled for 5:30! We barely made it in time! We had a brief chat with Kyle (Pres. Rawson) and then he officially gave Gabe the blessing that made him a missionary! He took his missionary tag out of his pocket (that I told him to take with him) and we went outside and took a couple pictures! It was crazy how fast the whole day went!

On Monday morning, he woke up for his first day of home MTC. He and I went for a bike ride in the morning, and then he had to be on his first Zoom meeting at about noon. I wasn't sure what the whole home MTC experience would be like, but I have realized quickly that they keep them VERY busy during this week! His first day he had a welcome meeting online at about noon. There were about 700+ elders and sisters on that one, so Gabe didn't have his own video or audio on. It was nice for me to sit and listen in on that. One thing the man talking said was that home MTC is nice because it's a way to meet your people in your district before getting to the MTC, so it makes the day of getting dropped off a little less traumatic. At first, Gabe was not excited for the home MTC because his friend, Porter, had told him it's basically just sitting in front of a computer screen all day and it's super boring. But after yesterday, Gabe said it really wasn't too bad. He said all his teachers are really energetic and fun, and his people in his group seem really nice. None are actually going to his same mission in Madrid, but they are all going someplace Spanish speaking. Some are going to Peru, Ecuador, Texas, and more. He said his companion, Elder Walker from Utah, is going to Spain Barcelona. That is who he will also be sharing a room with when he gets to the Provo MTC. They emailed out a picture of all 12 elders and sisters in his mission. I'll post it here so I don't forget! There are 4 girls and 8 boys. 

So far, it seems good! It's weird having him here, but totally consumed by his zoom lessons. He basically is here in the house, but sitting in his room or the office with his headphones in, so we can't really talk to him or hear what's going on. I guess it's "easing" him into being on a mission! My goal is to go through his suitcase and the checklist of everything he needs to pack in the next day or two and make sure we have everything! It's stressful making sure he has everything he needs for two years, but at least I know there's Amazon Spain and he can get most things over there! We even went and got him his own Costco card on Saturday because there's one in Madrid and one in Seville, and someone said that Costco is the only place you can get some American foods over there! (Maybe he won't even want American foods after a few months of Spanish food, but we will be prepared anyways!;) That's the update for now!